TEE MAKING OF BI0L0GI8T8. 5*9 



made him shudder, and yet the very lecture cited is really an important 

 contribution to that subject, with its theory of the moods of energy and 

 idleness. The views just expressed seem to be confirmed by the history 

 of one of the most distinguished biologists of this country, Dr. A. S. 

 Packard, who writes me as follows : 



I may say that the love of flowers, animals and natural scenery was inborn 

 in me. My ancestry on both sides were ministers, we never had a naturalist 

 in the family, but my father was extremely fond of and appreciative of natural 

 scenery, and was interested in history and archaeology. As a child I was very 

 fond of flowers, as were my parents, and as early as I can remember had a 

 flower-garden of my own. When about 14-15 I began to collect minerals, and 

 then shells. My zeal for collecting and forming a museum led an older brother, 

 who also had such tastes, to give me his cabinet, containing curiosities, shells 

 and minerals. I was also an omnivorous reader, devoured all the books on 

 natural science in the library of Bowdoin College, where I was kindly allowed 

 to browse, long before entering college. When about 16-17 I collected insects 

 in considerable numbers. I was also aided by a maiden lady in Brunswick, 

 Maine, who told me about shells, and aided me in naming my native plants. 

 I formed a herbarium before entering college. From Miss Ann Jackson when 

 a boy I first heard of Lamarck, and of his classification of shells, and of the 

 Lamarckian genera of shells. With, then, an inborn taste for natural history, 

 an aversion to business, and a fondness for books, my deep interest in animal 

 life was sustained and I was impelled to devote my life to biological study. 

 All through college I corresponded with Professor Baird, assistant secretary 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, also with conchologists and entomologists, and 

 this was a constant stimulus to the natural zeal and interest, or passion, for 

 biology which has influenced my life. Also I was a born collector, though I 

 have now no large collections. I trust this will show how I became interested 

 in natural history. Had I been brought up in a city, the result might have 

 been different. (Litt., October 28, 1901.) 



It is interesting to think that Packard might have been our leading 

 conchologist, Jordan our first authority on seaweeds. In nearly every 

 case of which I have full information, some other branch of biology was 

 studied than that which afterwards became the specialty. The interest 

 was almost always at first a general one, afterwards limited by circum- 

 stances or choice. Of course one has to remember here that nearly all 

 children in rural districts are interested in nature, though so few become 

 biologists. The writer spent part of his childhood on a farm in Sussex, 

 England, and well remembers the interest taken by the children in the 

 first primroses or daffodils of the year, the arrival of the birds, the occur- 

 rence of efts (newts) in certain ponds, and such matters. It seems prob- 

 able that most children are potential biologists, to some extent, but only 

 a few are able to break through the crust of indifference and opposition 

 which surrounds them a little later, and remain naturalists to the end. 

 If this is true, and it is also true that stimulation at an early age is very 

 important, the nature study movement in the schools may yet produce 

 great results for science. However, in the absence of suitable teachers, 



